Month: July 2016

The funny thing about parenting is…that when something like what happened in Nice happens, so many emotions come to the forefront. Those pictures, my god those pictures.

Hug them, squeeze them, tell them you love them, just look at them, stare away to your hearts content-even if they look at you funny. Take in every detail of their little faces. Promise to look after them forever. Promise to love them forever. Kiss them. Kiss them again. Hold their warm hands. Forget about all those things that frustrate you, even just for a few short minutes. For all those things that frustrate us, some parents, families, friends, grandparents, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers will never get to experience that again. And even those frustrations we take for granted as it’s what makes everyone of us unique. But for some, they will never get to see the beautiful faces of those who were so cruelly taken away at such a joyous time, walk back in to the room to annoy them. They will not get to hold their warm hands again. They will not get to stare so intently at their features and get that look back that says ‘stop being weird’. Don’t take these moments for granted. They are and always will be in the back of your mind. Hug them, kiss them, love them, forever.

We are all human, we all have our own beliefs, and we are all entitled to them, but at the heart of it, we are all human. We have feelings. We hurt when others hurt. When laugh when others laugh. We are all human.

Like this:

The funny thing about parenting is … That kids really don’t care where they are, they just want to get away from the norm too!

We are off on our second staycation so far this year. This time however, it’s all planned for us. Dinner reservations-done. Activities-arranged. All that we need to do is get there and enjoy it.

I’m not going to lie, the ease of not having to pack for a foreign holiday is amazing. No airports, passport control or throngs of people rushing. All we’re doing is hopping in the car for the drive (1 and half hours away) and voila! Paige is excited-she told me under no circumstances are we to order to the room-we are eating out. God I’ve got a diva. Or a child who truly enjoys the high life.

Keep your eyes peeled on our snapchat-the.rit, Instagram- @toddling_along, and Twitter-@ritawhyte for updates on our trip to Ireland’s Anciest East and Athlone!

Like this:

The funny thing about parenting is…that we (thankfully) forget the pain of teething, but that also means we can’t remember how the little ones feel.

I feel that we have been in a constant world of teething. It feels like it will be never ending.

Paige started teething at around 4-5 weeks old, well that’s when we really notice it. So off we went to the Health Nurse who promptly dismissed our claims in a tone of ‘Sure, what would you know?’ and ‘I’m 100% certain she’s not teething, you’re just being over-dramatic as first time parents’. Sure enough, we definitely were not being overly dramatic as she cut her first tooth at 4 months old, which would put everything into perspective.

Being first time parents had nothing to do with asking her if there was anything she would recommend for such a young baby to help with teething pains. We just wanted to help our little one through the pain that she was obviously in. The chemist on the other hand was a lot more helpful and offered great advice and products to try at her age.

When the first tooth reared it’s little head, the excitement in the house was amazing-‘It’s here’! Role on 2 years and 2 weeks since we found that tooth and we are still going through it. This time however, Paige has the ability to tell us where hurts and if it’s bad.

We’ve literally gone through every single symptom for teething-

Teething poo (although we actually had a doctor tell us there’s no such thing and we were bad parents for thinking that teething poo’s exist-but my god they do!)

Nappy rash (This used to get so, so bad I actually nearly cried as he bum was so sore)

Drooling

Chin rashes

Chesty cough (this has been a consistent one for our house)

Cheek rash

Pink cheeks

Biting

Grinding of gums

Puking

High fever

Blocked nose

Crankiness

Disrupted sleep

Wanting an Actimel at midnight(yeap, all week this week and every single night)

I’m pretty sure that we’ve experienced a few more symptoms but these are what stick out for me!

I’m hoping with all hope that this is in fact the last molar to come through as boy do they suck. They appear to take forever (Paige’s molars have been coming through since last year!).

A big consistent element throughout this whole teething experience has been to trust your own instinct. Doctor’s and nurses can offer advice but when it comes to teething, each and every child has a different reaction to it. Each and every child and parent has their own way of dealing with it. But as parents, we are there to soothe their pain and help them cope by using what we feel is right-whether it be amber bracelets, teething gel, or Sophie the Giraffe and other teething rings/rubbers etc.

Go with your gut is effectively what I’m trying to say, and nobody should put you down. Mother’s instinct is a great thing and something that we all possess. It just clicks in. Father’s have it too 🙂 So lets call it ‘parents instinct’ going forward!

We are all trying to do the same thing, raise our kids to be the best that they can be. We’re in this together.

The funny thing about parenting is…that we’re all not experts, We’re all in the same boat. We all have our own ways of getting through the challenges, the ups and downs and we’re all here for each other.